One Last Shot
by padfoot4eva
Summary: On her wedding day, Lily receives a visit from the last person she'd expect. Onesided SL, JL


Disclaimer- Not mine, never was, never will be. Belongs to JK Rowling, with a tiny bit of inspiration from Phantom of the Opera. You should know it when you see it. Please, don't sue me, as I have nothing. (On a side note, since JKR so grossly neglected and abused Fred, does that mean he's up for grabs? fan girl squeal)

I know I haven't done anything in far too long with fanfiction, but HBP kind of killed any plots I had. Fortunately, though, DH rekindled them, and, since I am an insanely hopeless romantic, Snape/Lily made me really happy (not quite as happy as Lily/James, but, well, I have a special place in my heart for reformed jerks). This is also slightly AU, since Lily and James supposedly had a quiet wedding- but I didn't remember this until after I'd written the story, so what can you do? Same goes for James and Lily's jobs- for the purpose of this story, she needed a safer job than him. Now, without further ado, since I know y'all really don't want to listen to me ramble, I present my humble offering to both those pairings.

* * *

The invitations had all been sent out and RSVPed to. The chapel had been booked for weeks, and Lily Evans imagined that the guests were already entering the chapel to try and claim the best seats, even though there was still an hour to go until the ceremony was scheduled to start. Her dress was perfect, her hair and makeup flawless. Yet it was crunch time, and there were still hundreds of last minute details she should probably be going over. However, she wanted, no, needed time to contemplate. While there was little in the world she wanted more than the marriage that was soon to happen, it was still a major change, and the past few days had been far too hectic to allow for any kind of private thought.

So she'd dismissed her bridesmaids and friends (she had no family here, since her mother and father had both passed away years before, and Petunia, well, that was something best left alone), laughing as she waved them away, insisting that she was fine, and they had no reason to worry about her. Her smile had faded the instant the door had closed, though, and she had collapsed in front of the full length mirror that had witnessed her painstaking transformation from overworked intern healer to perfect fairy-tale bride. Albeit a fairy-tale bride whose only childhood connection to this wedding was the fact that she'd attended this church when she was younger. No mother to talk her through things, no older sister to be her maid of honor, no childhood friend…but it was best not to go down that path.

"I cannot cry," she muttered to herself, "Because I will smudge my makeup, and Alice will kill me." Alice Longbottom had claimed the privilege of doing her makeup by right of being the most recently married, a tradition Lily (nor, she imagined, anyone else) had ever heard of, but one they were willing to let slide. Alice was recently pregnant, after all, and people were inclined to indulge her. Besides, Lily hadn't minded. She was perfectly content to let others fuss over her today, because Lily just lacked the energy.

Thinking of Alice, though, reminded Lily of another reason for her exhaustion, and unconsciously she rubbed her abdomen. Alice wasn't the only expecting mother in the Order.

Of course, the news of Lily's pregnancy wasn't out yet. She was only about five weeks along, and had just realized her condition herself. While Alice was hardly any further along, she and Frank had informed everyone as soon as they knew. However, Lily had been more cautious. She knew very well that there would be some disapproval, most of it coming from Molly Weasley (who was a dear, but had a small obsession with scarlet women. And she hardly had room to talk in this category, although that had never stopped her about anything before), even if an eight month baby would bring nothing but chuckles from the majority. After all, with the way Lily and James had been since their seventh year, such things were only to be expected. And, to tell the truth, the disapproval wouldn't have stopped her if she'd really wanted to tell.

Mostly, Lily couldn't bear another thing to have to talk with everyone about, another thing for James to worry about her over. And she knew he would start worrying the minute she told him. That was just what James did. Never mind that he was generally in more danger than she was on a day to day basis, being an auror. No, Lily, as the female, was the one who needed protecting. Constantly, or so it seemed sometimes, when all she needed was a bit of rest from it. And absolution, in a way.

Right on cue, a knock came from the door. "Lily, love, it's me. Some of the girls said you'd sent them away, and they were a bit worried about you. Are you alright? Do you need me to come in?"

Damn. Apparently she hadn't pulled off her act as well as she'd thought. Opening her mouth to reply, she was interrupted by another voice from the other side of the door. "What Prongs really wants to know, Lily-Flower, is if he needs to go out there and tell everyone the wedding's off, and that they all need to leave. I kept telling him that he was being ridiculous, since you'd probably just come to your senses and realized that I was the obviously better choice, but that's no reason to postpone everything. Would be simple enough to switch the best man and groom around, wouldn't it? I even wrote James a best-man toast he can read at the reception, since he wouldn't be prepared for it, and mine certainly wouldn't work. It's got the wrong name, and all."

Despite herself, Lily laughed. There was a brief interlude of scuffling from outside that sounded like James had punched Sirius, and from the protests the scoundrel was making, none too lightly, which gave Lily time to get herself together before answering. She knew very well that, no matter what she said, if James thought there was something wrong, there wasn't anything in the world that would bar the door.

"Sirius, I told you, it was supposed to be a surprise," she began with another laugh, this one only slightly forced. "Seriously, though, - Sirius, so help me God, make the pun and James will have to find another best man because you will be _dead_- James, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all. And, no, you can't come in. There's millennia of tradition that forbids it, and I can't allow you to break that, much as I love you. I'm fine," she insisted again. "I'll see you in the chapel in a little while, I promise."

Apparently, her answer was good enough to suit him, since after a quick "I love you" two sets of footsteps faded away. However, a few moments later, one reappeared, and the doors cracked open.

"James, I told you, I'm fine. I just need to be alone right now." Lily didn't bother to look up, nor to try and hide her irritation. However, the voice that responded was not her fiancée's.

"You know, it's not too late to get out of this."

It was a voice she hadn't heard in years, although she still recognized it immediately. She may never have heard it filled with so much of what she would have called grief, or longing, if she hadn't know much better, but she did know it. It came as a shock, since it was one of the last she'd have expected to hear on a day like this, or ever, really. The shock paralyzed her for a moment, which was why she didn't immediately scream for help. By the time she came to her sense and rose from the heap she'd been in, the door was already locked, the room was sound-proofed and her wand, left on the table by the doorway, was already in the intruder's hand.

Terrified though she was starting to become (after all, these were not days anyone wanted to find him- or herself powerless), Lily still managed to keep it from her voice as she faced her former friend.

"What the hell are you doing here, Snape?" she asked contemptuously, trying to judge the distance to her wand. Unfortunately, it was too great for her to make it in one leap, and she knew she wouldn't have time for a second. Whatever he was planning to do to her, there was nothing she could do about it. "I thought I made it clear to you that I wanted nothing to do with you, if that's what this is going to be about. Or are you just going to kill me where I stand now, in my wedding gown? That's the sort of thing you and your fellow death eaters thrive on, isn't it?"

His face remained impassive, but his eyes fell, and even though he was one of Voldemort's followers, something Lily could never forgive him for, she still felt pain watching him. "Lily, I could never do anything to hurt you. I swear. I just had to talk with you, make you understand, and this was the only way. He can't make you happy, Lily."

"You lost the right to use my given name long ago, Snape."

He interrupted her. "Please, Lily, for the sake of what we once had, I beg you. Can't we return to that, and forget all the rest?"

"Forget all the rest? " Lily demanded incredulously. "Forget that you're holding me captive in here? Forget all the people I'm sure you've tortured and killed?"

"None," he broke in again. "I've tortured and killed no one, Lily, and…I needed to speak with you. Desperate times call for desperate measures. As soon as I have, I'll give you your wand back, I swear on Salazar Slytherin's grave. And until then, and after, no harm will come to you from me."

It was one of Lily's failings, her habit of being guilted into almost anything. Though she didn't want to, she could see the poor, lonely boy from a broken family she'd befriended so long ago in the miserable man in front of her. "So, what do you want to say, Snape?"

He paced for a moment, always being careful to keep both wands on his opposite side from Lily. Apparently, though she was just supposed to trust him despite everything, the favor wasn't to be returned. "Well, first, I'd appreciate being called by my name."

"Forgive me if I refuse. It's not a luxury I grant to death eaters, something you can't deny that you are. Be grateful that I'm not calling you Snivellus, or something of that ilk."

He winced, as though her caustic tone was physically paining him. "No, I can't deny it. And I regret it, more than you can imagine. But I can't get out of it now, Lily. He'll kill me. And I came here today because I can't force myself to stand by and idly watch as you are forced into a situation like mine."

One shocked giggle escaped her. "You're comparing marriage with a man I love," Snape flinched once more, involuntarily, "With service to the Dark Lord. How dare you? How dare-"

"Because I love you!" he shouted. "I always have, Lily. Please," he held up a hand to ward off any interruptions (another thing apparently only he was allowed to do). "Hear me out. The Dark Lord will kill you if you marry Potter. He'll kill both of you. Please, come with me. We can run together, we can get away. I will do anything you ask of me, just, please, don't do this." He looked shocked at himself but stood resolved.

A tear ran down Lily's face, one that she hadn't noticed forming. All fear and, in truth, anger fading, she walked over to her first, and perhaps, greatest friend. He was taller than he had been when they'd last parted, his hair was greasier, but he was the same in all the ways that mattered, and she had a heart that was too kind for her own good. But if he was going to make that kind of confession, she owed him this. "I can't," she said softly, placing a hand on his arm. "I won't. I love James, and I refuse to leave him. I refuse to take the coward's way out."

He nodded slowly, though his hands were clenched around the wands, his knuckles white. "A Gryffindor to the finish. I knew that, of course. You've always been that way, but I'd dared to hope…" He cleared his throat. "Then may I ask one more favor, Lily? Please, can you call me by my name, my true name? Can we part this one last time as friends?"

Pounding on the wooden frame of the door and jiggling of the handle interrupted the exchange now. "Lily, Moody swears he saw Snape enter here. Snivellus, Merlin help me, if you're in there, if you've done anything to my wife, I'm going to rip you apart, shred by shred." And the sounds intensified.

To his credit, Severus didn't make a move to cower. Instead, he stood still, silently telling Lily that, whatever she wished to become of him, he would allow. And Lily found that, no matter how much he might deserve it, she could not turn this man, who was little more than a heartbroken boy, in to likely be tortured and killed. So, even as her future husband and his friends tried to break into the room, from the sound of it, Lily grabbed her companion's hand and led him to the mirror on the other side of the room. She ran her hand along the gilded frame. "I grew up going to this church, remember? It's full of strange nooks and crannies, and finding them was a popular pastime for us kids. This was always my favorite, although I was never sure why it was built." Finding what she was looking for, she pressed a minute button, and the glass swung out. "It leads to the basement, and it's easy enough to get out once you're there. Anti-apparition wards are on the grounds, as I'm sure you know." She gave him a look. "How did you get in here?"

He shrugged, trying to look cool and indifferent. "It's easy enough to get in if you look like you're too unimportant to pay attention to."

She nodded, and the feeling that she was back with him as a child was complete. "Well, you've always been good at that." She paused and then leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Go with God, Severus."

He brought up a hand to his cheek, and then nodded. "If there's anything I can do to protect you…and Potter, if I must, I will do so. Goodbye, Lily."

"Goodbye," she echoed, and watched him go down the corridor for a second, before hastily shutting the passage and grabbing her wand. She despelled the room, and then opened the door. "I hope you're happy now that you've gone and completely flouted tradition, James," she said with a mock stern look, though a twinkle in her eye. "And you lot, letting him," she added with a not-so-mock glare to the rest of the Marauders. "And you dragged Sirius with you, so now I can't even marry him safely. All the planning is completely wasted."

Sirius grinned. "I'm willing to lie about my presence at this little spectacle if you are, Lils," he began, only to receive a sharp jab in the ribs from Remus.

James wasn't as easily put off. "Lily, Moody said…" James began uncertainly, peering into the room.

"James, sweetie, you know Moody. He's so paranoid he sees Death Eaters everywhere now. Look for yourself," she gestured toward the now empty room. "You know there's no way out of here with all the anti-apparition wards up. There's no one here. Now, go away, and send Alice back in. I need her to touch up on my makeup."

James wisely did as he was told, without questioning her tear-streaked face, nor commenting that it took her a few minutes to get to the door to relieve his fears, probably correctly predicting that he wouldn't like the answers. Alice scolded her a bit, but thought it was all pre-wedding jitters, and the concerns about her lack of family. Nothing more was said of the supposed Snape sighting.

* * *

There may or may not have been a dark shadow at the wedding itself, hiding in the back corners. Just like there may or may not have been several times in her day-to-day life that Lily felt certain that someone was watching her. However, the feeling didn't perturb her, quite the opposite, in fact. She wouldn't have suspected any less, and the fact that she had two eyes watching out for her, one on both sides of the conflict, made her feel safer than anything else ever could. She trusted both of her men, as she supposed she had to call them, too much to imagine any harm would come to her, or her child, if they had anything to say about it.

* * *

My darling sister, darkchild2751 (go check out her stories if you like some of the darker pairings, she's great), gave me this challenge. Well, actually, she told me Snape at Lily's wedding, but I couldn't bear having Snape be beaten up by James as would be sure to happen if he was there for the actual ceremony. Besides, I had already written a diary entry for him (for my previous readers who know of that series, or anyone reading this, really, tell me if you want it and, if so, I'll post that too). I know everyone was slightly out of character, but you can't really write fanfiction without doing that. And I think it all worked out.

Please, _please_ review. I know how unattractive everyone finds begging but, grin I'll do it anyway for this. Hopefully, I'll continue writing and posting stories, but even if I can't, there's nothing quite like receiving commentary. I'll accept constructive criticism, but emphasis is on the constructive. Reviews simply telling me that I have too much description, but without telling me where to cut some out, for example, ticks me off greatly.

Now, since I have nothing left to say (and since I can go on for a while, this is impressive), go review. Now.

Sally


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